


Keep Your Head

by AestheticFailure



Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: Alien Biology, Canon-Typical Violence, Gay Panic, M/M, Murder, Slow Burn, Tentacles, Two Impostors (Among Us)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:20:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26872051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AestheticFailure/pseuds/AestheticFailure
Summary: Black wasn't an idiot. he knew that he should be careful of the things that lurked in the dark. Every training he had attended, every nerve in his simple human body told him that he should be afraid. But in the presence of his crewmate-turned-impostor, he couldn't bring himself to feel an ounce of fear. And that, would be his downfall.
Relationships: Black/Red (Among Us)
Comments: 35
Kudos: 157





	1. Chapter 1 (Black)

They call it the Survivor Syndrome. The way their eyes would drift, following nothing through the empty space before them. The glazed over look in their eyes holding nothing while they remembered the things that they had seen. There weren’t many people with the condition, not many people had the opportunity to develop it. Not many people lived long enough to develop it.

Liam’s mother had Survivor Syndrome. She had been assigned a mission aboard the same ship that his father had been on, the mission that they had met for the first time. His father may have had it, but he never got the chance to. He was killed during his second mission, before Liam was old enough to register the loss. His mother had told him that he wouldn’t be home for a while, and that he was doing important things for the government. That much was true.

Everyone knew that the missions that Earth sent their most highly trained individuals on were dangerous at best. Most times, half the crew didn’t return. If that many managed to survive. No one outside of the ones that survived ever talked about what it was that killed the crew, but there were speculations about it. Blood thirsty monsters, only capable of caring for themselves. That’s what the survivors said, anyway. But their brains had been fried to the point of no return far before they ever returned. No one payed them much mind.

It was only after Liam had finished his entrance exam into one of the most prestigious schools in the country that he realized what the world was truly up against. An alter race of human, developed far beyond anything that Liam had ever heard of. A race sent out to explore the deepest parts of space years before the technology was safe, people that had gotten trapped on a second earth and been forced to adapt. He wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but he knew that it couldn’t have been good.

So, after the two years of intensive training on his part, he had finally gotten the nerve up to apply for the space program. It was an underground network, nearly impossible to get into, but he had made it a point to try his best to get in. It had paid off, eve though his mother had cried for days after hearing the news. She’d broken down, begging him to call the mission off, to not go into the ship that his own father had died on. But that just added to his resolve. He had to see what was really up there.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

From the second he stepped onto the small carrier ship, he knew that he had made a mistake. There were no cheerful greetings from his crewmates, only somber stares through the tinted visors that they all had on their government given space suits. He’d come into this expecting to make some lasting relationships, not be scrutinized by every last one of them. They were all here for the same purpose, right? To help end the war raging against them from an enemy they knew nothing about.

The only ones who didn’t give him a harsh look upon his arrival were the three that had already arrived before him. They were already seated on the small shuttle that would take them from the landing pad to the drop-off point. The ship was cold, despite his many layers under his suit. Red, Blue, and White were the ones he would try to stick near for now.

Another thing that he hadn’t been expecting was the lack of formality that they would have with each other. There were no name tags, no way of identifying each other besides the color of their space suits. And Liam’s happened to be black. The man in the black suit. That’s all he would be known as from now on.

He was sat next to the red crewmate during the boarding process, scanning his key card to show that he was who he said he was. Once he sat down he started to remove his helmet, wanting a deep breath of fresh air. Red put their hand on his shoulder, shaking his head. 

“Don’t. You don’t know who you can trust on here yet.” his voice was deep, and seemed as though it would carry, if he spoke loud enough.

Liam understood, although he didn’t entirely know what the other man meant. They would know who the monsters were, wouldn’t they? They had teeth strong enough to break bones, how would he not see that immediately? Red sat back in his seat, listening to what the instructor had to say to them before they took off.

It was basic protocol, keep your suits on when not in your individual bunks, make sure that the oxygen doesn’t become depleted, keep your helmets on. Something about not knowing the true quality of the air on the main ship until they were on it. Things that were common sense, in Liam’s mind. He didn’t listen as intently as he probably should have though, too busy looking around at the rest of the crew.

There were twelve of them, each in a different colored suit. There were a wide range of colors, ranging from cyan and yellow, to the darker colors such as dark green and himself. Half of them were paying rapt attention to the announcer, while the other half were looking around at everyone like he was doing now. He liked to think that he made eye contact with a couple of them, although he knew that he couldn’t have through the visors. It was just a hopeful thought, something that he didn’t think would happen a whole lot on this trip.

Once the announcer was done with their spiel about basic safety, they let one small piece of information that may change everything.

“Also, we have intel that there may be an impostor on this trip.”

Liam felt his breath stop. There were impostors on the mission? He knew from the beginning that there was the possibility that one may infiltrate their ship, but he figured that he would know the moment they did. The teeth that his mother always talked about, sharp enough to cut clean through bone. How would he miss that? Maybe Red was right to tell him to keep his helmet on for the time being. Was this his first mission like this? What had he seen in his past missions that had made him so wary right off the bat like that?

He didn’t realize that he was shaking in his seat until Red put a hand on his knee, settling the bouncing that he’d started. Liam glanced to the side, trying to catch his eye, to no avail. Still, it felt good to have another person on the ship who seemed as worried about the situation as he was. It felt like he had someone that he could trust.

As everyone looked around the small ship transporting them to their home for the next year, he could feel the sudden tension that had arose. An impostor could only mean one thing. That they were out for blood. Trying to kill every last person on the ship, before stealing every ration that had remained. That’s where the next round would begin. Of course, there were those few occasions that the crew would manage to figure out who was doing the killing, and eject them into the cold vacuum of space, but those were few and far between.

He made a mental note to stay away from a few of the crewmates that he found himself with as they boarded the Skeld, those who didn’t seem as bothered as the rest of them. Maybe they knew what was about to happen from personal experience. Maybe they had been on the other side of the carnage. The crew was left with nothing else to go on, just that the impostor was able to shape shift, using the small vents used for oxygen circulation to navigate through the ship in ridiculously fast time. A way to move about undetected, unable to be heard or seen until they reemerged.

They were shown their personal bunks once they were situated on the ship, although they were sad, to be honest. A room that had barely enough room for a single twin bed and a small table, a coat rack in the corner nearest the door. The rooms were all stark white, bare of any decoration or color. That was for the best, he supposed. Better not to get too attached to any material things on the ship when there was the imminent danger of death. 

The only thing that he had brought with him had been, as childish as he had felt while packing it, had been a blanket given to him by his mother. It was home made, the edges becoming frayed from years of using and washing it. There was nothing special about the blanket, other than the fact that she had been able to sit still for the first time that Liam could remember while making it. Her hands didn’t fidget, she hadn’t gone into the stare she so often had, she had just focused on making the cloth big enough for Liam to lay under as a child.

Setting the blanket down on the bed, he pulled the drawer attached to the bottom of the bed out, storing his extra clothes under there until he could figure out a better organization method for the small room. He may turn the bed to the side, giving more room in the center, but that was for a later time. For now, he had to get into the cafeteria for a brief meeting on what their daily tasks were to be.

He met with Red as he was leaving his own room, the one directly beside his. He hadn’t changed his clothes, still wearing the same given suit that every other crewmate had on when they arrived. Liam distantly wondered what else Red had brought with him, if it was anything with sentimental value, or something simple to keep him company in the long nights that were awaiting them.

They fell into step beside each other, Liam having to take twice as many steps as his associate because of the height difference. Now that they were both standing, he could tell that there was half a head’s difference between them, which he didn’t think was entirely fair. Liam was average height, but Red had to be well over six foot. His strides were much longer, and he carried himself with much more confidence than Liam himself had.

The meeting was quick, introducing themselves as their color that they had been given and nothing else. Red had kept at his side the entire meeting, which he had appreciated. Everyone left fairly early to get a good night’s sleep in before the long day ahead of them, but Liam doubted that any of them would be able to sleep that night. Too many thoughts running wild with visions of impostors coming through the vent by each of their beds. Yet another reason he wanted to shift the furniture around a bit.

Sure enough, as he was walking back to his room, he overheard a couple of his crewmates talking behind him, talking about how someone at the meeting hadn’t said something or another with enough conviction in their voice, and that they had acted suspicious. It seemed as though tensions were already rising, and there were no reasons to begin suspecting people just yet. Who knew what tomorrow would bring, though.

As he tried to get some rest, Liam couldn’t stop thinking about what he had been warned about. The air coming through the vents coming into his room was causing a small sound that he wasn’t accustomed to. As he wrapped himself in the blanket he’d brought and closed his eyes, he swore he heard something unusual in the vent. But surely, it was just his imagination.


	2. Chapter 2 (Black)

They had been on the Skeld for exactly a month to the day. Nothing had happened yet, and the tensions on the ship were entirely too high. Liam, or as he had gotten used to being called, Black, was in the navigation room with Red. The two had gotten fairly close over the past month, Black sharing stories about his life before the ship, Red being a bit more quiet about his past. But his company was there. And that’s all that mattered to Black as the days drug on.

He was currently charting the course for the next days’ journey, Red leaning against the wall beside him. He was nodding under his helmet at something that Black was rambling about, and he could only assume that the other was rolling his eyes. 

He seemed to do that a lot, Black had noticed. Red was always watching the other crewmates doing their tasks as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. Part of Black wondered if he was trying to figure out how to do his tasks more efficiently, since he never seemed to do them quite right. But another part of him thought that maybe he was just not used to being around so many people at once. Sometimes Black would feel eyes on his back, only to turn around and see his newly acquired friend staring at him from the doorway.

When the conversation shifted to where they wanted to go when they got off the ship, Red didn’t seem to have any specific places to go. Somewhere quiet, somewhere with not so many people. He didn’t seem to be a big people person, and Black could understand that. He didn’t feel the same way, but he could see where the taller man was coming from. Black wanted to go to somewhere he had never been before, somewhere like Paris, or Italy. Red didn’t have an opinion.

He opened his mouth to ask something probably irrelevant, but cut himself off when he saw a flash above his head. A single flash of red, and then the lights went down. Within a matter of seconds, he went from seeing clearly to not being able to see inches in front of his face. A wave of panic set over him, and he forgot how to breathe. The Impostor had sabotaged the lights.

He took a step forward, his hand out to try and reach something, completely blind in the pitch dark. His hand touched something, and he clenched his hand to try and feel what was under his hand. It was hard to figure things out, with the gloves that they had all been given when they began this journey. He was inching closer to the thing he was touching when it moved under this fingers.

He jerked his hand back, his mind flashing red with the threat of danger directly in front of him. It grew by the seconds until he heard Red’s voice directly beside his ear, and felt a hand on his shoulder. “It’s just me, we have to get to the cafeteria.”

He nodded, even though he knew that Red couldn’t see the motion. Every bit of training that he had been given was thrown out the window the moment that he had lost his sense of sight. Every basic instinct in him was screaming for him to stay still and not move, although that would definitely give the killer a greater chance at finding him. At least with Red by his side, it would be hard for the impostor to kill the both of them at once.

“Shouldn’t we go fix the lights first? We can’t see anything like this.”

Red’s voice was calm for the situation, although Black already knew that he had been on a mission similar to this in the past. Maybe he had seen things like this that he himself hadn’t seen. “It’s obvious you haven’t done this before. Come on, let’s see who’s left.”

Black allowed himself to be guided through the dark, his hands still outstretched. It was taking him an insanely long time to get from navigation to the cafeteria, which should have taken a couple of minutes, tops. His feet weren’t working with him, his eyes trying to find something in the sea of nothing. He stumbled over his own feet for the tenth time when Red’s hand left his shoulder, to which he stopped moving completely. Red bumped into him with a grown, and Black could practically see the eye roll he received. He felt an arm go around his shoulder, and Red’s voice had a breathy quality to it, like he was holding back a laugh.

“You’re fine, we’re almost there.”

Almost as if on cue, the temperature in the room dropped and the floor beneath his feet changed material. He only barely aware of the fact that Red’s arm was still around his shoulder, but he wasn’t going to complain. It had been so long since he had gotten comfort from someone else, being on this ship for as long as they had been. And comfort was something that he would gladly take, as hard as he was trying not to shake.

“Who’s in here?” Red’s voice in his ear startled him a bit, but no more than the pure darkness around them did. He wasn’t expecting a response, there was no way that Red could have seen anything across the room. But sure enough, there was a voice from the other side of the cafeteria, which surprised him. Although to be fair, shouldn’t have.

“Me, orange, and purple are over here. Me, yellow.” Her voice sounded hushed, like she was trying to speak softly.

Red navigated the two of them over to where the voices came from, walking a lot straighter than Black would have been. He must have memorized the path by now, Black should have done the same before something like this happened.

“It’s Red, I have Black with me. So you’ve done this before?” It was common ground to not talk about past missions, there was too much that could go wrong from divulging secrets. Too many stories that could be used against them if the impostors were to hear about how they escaped.

“Yeah. This is my second mission. I learned my lesson last time.”

Black started to open his mouth, to ask what they meant, when the lights flicked back on with a soft hum. They stood for a moment, staring at each other in the now bright room, allowing their eyes to adjust to the flourescents above them. Yellow had her arm around Orange, Purple standing slightly to their side. Their body language all screamed fear. Black felt the same way.

He cleared his throat, drawing the attention to him. “Why didn’t we go to lights? They probably could have used the extra hands,” Yellow glanced to Red, then back to Black, before a shrill scream rang through the ship. Red sighed, pushing off of his heels and walking toward the direction the sound came from, dragging Black with him.

“That’s why.”

Black was not prepared in the slightest for the sight that awaited him. There was blood on the wall, a trail leading from the scene of the crime to the vent nearby. In the center of electrical was the half gone corpse of Cyan. Black hadn’t known her well, but seeing her disemboweled across the back of electrical was too much for him to handle.

He felt himself start to shake, not from the scene before him, but from how real this had suddenly all turned. Until that moment, the thought of an impostor onboard was scary, but seeing someone that he had eaten lunch with, someone that he had seen countless times in the halls, exchanged good mornings with, it became terrifying. Her top half was completely gone, leaving her organs laying across the floor around her. It was as if someone had stolen her head, and left with it.

No one said anything for a moment, most of the crew either crying under their helmets or holding onto the person beside them for dear life. Red still hadn’t moved his arm, and Black was grateful for that. He brought his own hand up, his fingers holding onto the fabric of Red’s arm tightly. If the other noticed, he didn’t say anything. He was probably in just as much shock as everyone else was.

After staring at the body for an uncomfortable amount of time, the crew decided to move to the cafeteria as a group. They all knew what had to happen.

“Was anybody near the body?” Pink held no emotion in her voice, trying to steel herself. She was trying to be strong for everyone, hold it all together until she could get back to her bunk and let it all out.

Most people said that they were in or near electrical, nodding and agreeing that they had seen the others. Until the conversation got turned to Red.

‘And where were you guys at? I didn’t see any of you in electrical, why didn’t you come to help with the lights?” White was tilting their head at the group, who were standing together by the table. Black started to open his mouth to respond, but Red beat him to it.

“The first kill always happens during a crisis. If you go by yourself, you’re dead. That’s why you can tell who’s lived through this before.” His voice was steady, but it also held something under the surface. Something close to anger, probably at being singled out. “Next time, don’t rush into an empty room with no lights unless you have someone by your side.”

No one had anything to say about that, and after White pointing a few more fingers and asking a few more questions, it was obvious that they weren’t going to get anywhere by accusing. The meeting was ended, Blue and Red being the ones to carry what was left of Cyan and empty them into the airlock. No one stayed around long enough to hear the sound that the shoot made as it went off. Black made his way back to his room, making sure to stay with Orange until they got back to their separate doors.

It hadn’t been long until he heard a knock at the door, immediately picking his helmet back up and putting it on his head. He didn’t bother latching the air locks, just wanting to cover his face. “Come on in.”

The door opened and Red poked his head inside, glancing around the room. In the time that he had been on the ship, he’d managed to pick up a few things from the others, mainly just notes and sketches. One of them had been from Cyan, a doodle that she had drawn while they were stuck in med bay for a few hours together. It had been the only time that they had gotten to talk, and it had been nice.

“Hey, are you okay?” Red’s voice was soothing, deeper than his own, and it was comforting to hear. He leaned against the door frame, arms crossed over his chest. It was late, there was no real way to tell time in space, but Black’s eyes were getting heavy with lack of sleep. Or just simply the weight of the day getting to him. He nodded his head, the unlatched helmet bumping the back of his head. He didn’t care to show Red his face, but he wasn’t going to be the first one to do so.

“It’s just… It’s a lot. I honestly didn’t expect there to be an impostor, it’s been so long since we arrived. Why didn’t they do anything before now?” Red shrugged, not making much more of a movement other than that.

“Every time I’ve been on this ship, it’s been at least a few weeks before anything happens. They seem to want to gain everyone’s trust before they try anything.”

“But why? What do they have to gain from this? What did they do with the other half of Cyan’s body?”

Red shifted, his arms dropping to his sides. “If I had to guess, they either dragged it into the vents, or ate him.”

Well, that was a shock to the system. So the stories were true. They were truly up against blood thirsty cannibals. “Ate them? Like, ate them, ate them?”

Red nodded, his hand coming up to drum on the door. “That’s what I’ve seen so far. Just.” He paused, and Black wished more than ever that he could see his friend’s expression. “Be careful, okay?”

Black nodded once, curtly, and reached up, ready to take his helmet back off once again. “I will. Thanks, by the way.” Red was silent, so he continued. “If you hadn’t been there today I probably would have died. I’ll stick with you from now on.”

There was a long pause, where if Black hadn’t been watching him, he wouldn’t have even known Red was in the room. Then he heard a sigh, and the door started to close, before he spoke. “No problem. I’ll keep you safe.” Then he was gone, leaving Black to think about the day, and what the next would hold.

Needless to say, he didn’t sleep that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!! I was really hyped about the response that the first chapter got, so I made sure to get the second chapter out quick! I also posted this at like 4am, so there may be some grammatical issues, so feel free to point any out and let me know!
> 
> Also, I'm debating on making the next chapter in Red's POV. What would you guys think about that?


	3. Chapter 3 (Red)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys seemed to really like the idea of having a chapter from Red's point of view. I hope I don't disappoint with this one! This was really fun to write, I may end up doing more from his view. Thank you for reading!

Growing up had been hard, to say the least. Both of his “parents” were gone before he had the chance to even meet them, off to do bigger and better things with their lives. Living life with everyone else, doing their daily chores, helping in the gardens outside. That’s how he grew up. He never really had an option to do anything other than what he was trained to do.

Training started when he was just a child. Too young to properly open a door, but old enough to properly wield a knife. He was a killer, he’d had to slaughter people his own age to train him for his future life. Digging a knife into their chest while looking them in their eyes. That’s how he was trained to do it, keep eye contact until the life drained from their eyes.

The first time he’d taken a life, he had been six years old. Watching around corners in a life or death game of hide and seek. His caregivers had warned him that they were all armed, not yet able to use their more hidden weapons just yet. It had been hard, walking around the dimly lit room, his eyes not strong enough to cut through the dark.

She’d been standing against the wall, her eyes blown wide and terrified. She didn’t want to be there any more than he did. But they all had to do this, it was life or death for them all. He’d stayed as quiet as he could, slipping up beside her, walking on his toes as best he could. He slipped his hand over her mouth, knowing that she couldn’t use her sharpened teeth against his own tough skin. 

“I’m so sorry.” Then he’s dug the knife between her ribs, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes as she thrashed in his arms before hitting the floor. The hand holding the knife was coated in her blood, staining his skin in the deep purple blood. He stared down at her as she struggled to breathe, eyes closing to allow the tears to slip down his cheeks. She had been his friend, they all had. But they weren’t allowed to have friends where they were.

The bell sounded, alerting them that they had finished the training exercise. They went in as a group of ten, and only four of them had come out of it alive. It was their first “mission”. He steeled his nerves, wiping his eyes on his shirt sleeve, not realizing that he had rubbed her blood on his face. He was so tired, all he wanted to do was go back to his bed and sleep. But they had to do more training, more intensive training on how to use their teeth and claws.

When he finally got to the room that he shared with the rest of the children his age, he collapsed onto the thin mattress. He was exhausted, and bruises were already forming on his ribs and arms. Their teacher hadn’t been pleased that it had taken them so long to kill their friends, and she took it out on them in aggressive ways. His stomach growled, the outline of his forming second mouth flexing under his shirt with each rumble. He hadn’t been allowed to eat anything that night, he had shown weakness in the face of death.

He tried not to think about what he’d had to do that day, but as he fell asleep, the image of the girl laying on the ground, not even breaking eye contact in death caused him to break. He let the tears flow freely, knowing that their teacher wouldn’t be in the room during the night. The sobs wracked his small body, holding his arms around his stomach in an attempt to feel some sort of contact that he knew he was missing. He wasn’t like the other kids, they had no remorse about killing their partners if it meant that they got to eat that night. He wasn’t the same.

Getting past his first kill had made the next one easier. But it didn’t take the fact that he felt dirty after each one away. He scrubbed in the shower every time he saw blood, whether it had been his own, or someone else’s. He’d been forced to continue his training despite begging the leaders to let him go, let him work in the gardens full time. But he had shown too much potential in his early days.

The sight of blood still made him sick to his stomach. He would heave every time he opened his second mouth, every time his teeth would make contact with skin and bone. But under all of the feelings he had, the things he buried deep down inside of himself, was the hunger that he felt. He didn’t allow himself to eat often, only doing so when he was on the brink of collapsing. It had happened more than one time, and each time, he was punished after he had eaten.

It was easier to pretend that he was okay with all of the blood, all of the carnage that he had caused in his life, than to disappoint his teachers. His teeth were far too sharp, his extra limbs far too agile for them to lose him as a weapon. He was strong, and they knew that.

Despite his lack of enthusiasm about his state of living, they had come to him, assigned him a mission, and given him an hour to gather his things before he left. He was going to be sent out into deep space, the bad guy on a ship full of good guys, and he despised every word that he heard. He didn’t want to go go onto the Skeld.

The Skrol had been existing for hundreds of years, each generation becoming more deadly than the last. Everyone knew of the stories the elders told, the vicious attitudes of the crewmates that would eject them without hesitation. The leaders of the current Earth knew what they were and what they did. They continually sent out humans to die, and it was a common thought that the government was collecting money from each death that they had.

It was all a load of bullshit, he thought often. Their own leaders were messed up, obviously, having them slaughter each other for food when they were hungry enough and not batting an eye. But at least they didn’t prophit from the death of their citizins. And if the rumors that his people had spread were true, then the hmans were no better than them.

It didn’t matter what his thoughts on the humans were though, when he had an opportunity to eat to his hearts content on a ship without any supervision. The only problem was, he didn’t want to.

He hadn’t been given a name when he was born, only being referred to as the number that he had been given in the hospital by his higher ups. He had taken up to being referred to as the color he had stolen, swapping through colors as the missions went on. He usually allowed his partner to do most of the killing, taking a life only if the other refused to share their kill. But that had only happened once before. The rest of his kind might not have understood his methods, but they were usually willing to oblige by causing most of the carnage.

The first four missions had gone fairly well, if it could be called that. The crew hadn’t survived any of the missions, and he could feel a bit of himself leaving with every body they found. He didn’t want to hurt anyone, there were just times when he was… so hungry.He couldn’t stop himself.

His next mission started out fairly normal, finding the crewmate that he would be becoming for the next year. Or however long it took to wipe this crew out. When he got on board, him and his partner were the first two to sit down. They sat on opposite sides of the small ship that would carry them to the crew’s doom, not wanting to draw any unwanted attention to themselves.

When the first person sat down in the seat across from him, he could smell the blood coursing through their veins. He knew that the other Skrol could as well, his helmet tilting to the side when the white clad crewmate walked by him. It was a scent unlike any other, the less evolved human race was a tantalizing smell of it own. His stomach gave a silent protest at the smell, knowing that he was unable to do anything about his hunger just yet.

The next person to board was another male, there was a distinct difference in the scent between the genders. He had figured that out, and it often made for confusion when talking to the crewmates that didn’t match their assigned scent. But he had soon figured out that the scent wasn’t always a certain way to tell without asking out right, and he usually didn’t have very much opportunity to ask before they died.

The man sat down beside him, glancing toward him in a way that he could only assume was curious. He smelled like all the others always did, a mixture of the blood and adrenaline coursing through the veins. But there was something else under the scent. Something deeper, that he hadn’t smelled before. The guy seemed nervous, but there was also an excitement in his body language.

He saw the black clad man reach up to unclasp the hooks holding his helmet in place, which wasn’t typical crewmate behavior. This was definitely his first time on the Skeld, and that would probably end up getting him killed off in the first few months. He placed his hand on Black’s shoulder, shaking his head once.

“Don’t. You don’t know who you can trust on here yet.” He didn’t know why he spoke up like that, when there was no reason for him to. He didn’t need to comfort the crewmate, his goal was to come onboard and kill everyone on the ship. He wasn’t there to hep them through a crisis. But, it seemed to help Black calm down a bit.

That was, until the announcer (not so) helpfully informed the crew that there was an impostor on board with them. That practically sealed his idea that Earth’s leaders knew exactly what they were doing. He had already known it, they all had. But the fact that the humans had so little care about their people, and so much care for financial gain? He was glad that he didn’t live on Earth.

The man beside him was practically shaking, his knee bouncing up and down in an almost rhythmic pattern. He definitely wasn’t one of the “impostors”, that was for sure. The poor guy must have been scared out of his mind. He sighed under the helmet he had been given, the red in his suit glinting in the other man’s visor.

He set his hand on the other man’s knee, trying to calm his jitters a bit. No need to make him more nervous than he already was. Plus, if he made himself a friendly face then, it would be easier to corner him and get him alone without raising suspicion. He’d never gone that path with a mission before, he figured that he could give it a try. 

The man in the black suit glanced at him, and he could see the small smile that formed on his lips. His vision was better than a crewmates, and even though the visors were tinted, he could still see decently enough through them. Black looked young, far too young to be on a mission like this. But he supposed that he was too. He looked grateful to have the impostor, now named Red for the trip, by his side. And he didn’t know how that made him feel. Black was shorter than him, and obviously not as well trained in combat as Red himself was. He couldn’t protect himself, and they both knew it, even if neither would say it.

He decided that he would keep Black alive for the time being, not seeing any real reason to kill him immediately. As the carrier ship got closer to the Skeld, he leaned his head back agaisnt the headrest. He didn’t want to fulfill his part of the mission, but he knew that there was no way around it. He just hoped that his partner would be the one to kill Black. He didn’t know that he would be able to do it just yet.


	4. Chapter 4 (Black)

After the first sabotage, everyone had learned their lesson. No one allowed themselves to be alone for more than a few minutes, staying in groups to do their daily tasks. Yellow and Orange had taken to sticking with Black and Red whenever possible, which was nice. Red was good company, of course. He was the only one that Black was certain he could trust on the ship. But the girls were much more talkative, adding commentary to the more boring tasks. The four of them made a good team, usually getting their tasks done before the day was half over.

Orange and Yellow had been making themselves useful the past two weeks as well, helping to show Red how to do the tasks he was assigned correctly. It was a relief. He didn’t want his friend to be voted off of the ship over a misunderstanding. So to finally see him tie the wires off and connect them together was a win in his book.

Maybe it was the fact that everyone was grouped up, but Black hadn’t seen the last death coming. The alarm that he had set the night before went off at five, as it did every day. He got up, grumbling about the time, brushed his teeth, and but his helmet on. He was still grumbling about having to be awake so early when he made his way to the cafeteria to grab a granola bar, slumping down into the seat beside Red. He seemed to be in the middle of an intense conversation with Blue, although they stopped when he sat down.

Red’s shoulders were tensed under his suit, so Black assumed it hadn’t been a very pleasant conversation. A few more people came into the cafeteria after him, sitting down in random seats around the large table. Despite his headache, he still wanted to try and initiate a conversation with Red. He nudged his boot against his friend’s, getting his attention.

“Did you sleep any better last night?” Red had been complaining with not sleeping lately, and it was starting to worry him. They needed their sleep, with the work that they were doing. Maybe that was a part of the reason that Red hadn’t been doing his work to the best of his ability. 

Red shook his head, leaning his elbow against the table in front of him. “Not really. I’ll get over it soon though, it’s probably nothing.” His apple remained untouched on the table in front of him.

“That’s what happens when you’re starving yourself.” Blue piped up from beside Red, something akin to anger in his voice. Black hadn’t been Blue’s biggest fan from the beginning, but something about the comment made him think. Red hardly ever ate breakfast, and usually picked at his lunch. But he always had his last meal, even if Black had to bug him to do so.

He turned his attention to Blue, who still had his sight locked onto Red. “What do you mean? He eats with me every night.”

Blue’s chuckle killed whatever Red was about to say. “He has to keep it down for it to count. I’ve seen what you do, Red, I’m not an idiot. You need to eat to survive, you know.”

“And you need to mind your damn business, you little-”

It was then that Brown clapped their hands, startling everybody listening into the conversation. They were standing in front of the circular table, in front of three empty seats. There had been an empty seat for the last two weeks, since Cyan had been killed. It was obvious that no one wanted to look at the seat she used to sit in.

Brown had their hands on their hips, their helmet pointed in Red’s direction. “it’s way too early to listen to you two bitching again. Has anyone seen Lime? Purple?”

Everyone shrugged or shook their heads, and he could practically feel the eye roll that Brown gave. “Fantastic. Guys, please set your alarms. let's go find them.”

They all ventured down the hall together, Brown leading the way. There was no specified captain on the Skeld, but if there had to be one, Black knew that it would be Brown. They kept their cool during the arguments that had happened, managing to break everything up peacefully. And arguments had definitely happened. More often than not, it was between Red and Blue. They seemed to constantly be at each others throats, even if it was over something stupid.

Purple’s door was the first one in the hallway, Lime’s directly beside it. Sighing, Brown lifted their hand and knocked on Purple’s door. The morning was just beginning, and everyone was already annoyed. Truthfully, Black just wanted to hear see what was going on. Purple had never been late before, so it was a new experience for everyone.

He could feel Brown’s annoyance as they knocked again, before Lime’s door opened beside them. She stuck her head out, fully dressed and seeming awake. “Oh, hey! What’s up?”

Lime had always had a bubbly personality, everyone on the ship thought so. She always brought a laugh into dull moments, and she had picked Black up out of a funk more than one time. But her mood didn’t quite match the atmosphere in the hallway at the moment. Brown didn’t seem to think so either, crossing their arms over their chest.

“Breakfast is over. You want some tomorrow, set your damn alarm.”

“Oh, I did! I just decided I wasn’t hungry this early in the morning, so I figured I would stay in here until time to start tasks.”

“Yeah, I’ say you’re not very hungry, are you?” Blue’s voice cut their argument short, turning all heads toward the door he had just opened. “Brown? You might want to see this.”

As Black stepped to the side to see what Blue was looking at, the smell hit him. When Cyan had died, the smell had been strong. But that was in an open area with air flowing through it. There, in Purple’s room, where the air was completely stagnant, the smell was putrid. The smell of iron and death permeated through his helmet, allowing him to smell exactly what had happened in that room.

Purple’s body was laying in the floor, a puddle of blood around them. Their helmet was off, allowing everyone to get a good look at their lifeless eyes staring in horror at something they would never get to witness. It was the first time Black had seen any of his crewmates without their helmets on, and it made everything feel so much more real once again.

Their stomach was cut open from the top of their ribs to the waistband of their pants, a clean slice. Even in the dim room, Black could see that all of the organs had been removed, and they were no where to be seen. It seemed as though it was the same method as last time, albeit less rushed.

He hadn’t realized that Yellow had managed to get right beside him until she grabbed his hand. It grounded him, stopped him clenching his fists in a way he hadn’t realized he was doing. She was another person there, someone else who was seeing the same thing that he was seeing. And she seemed just as scared as he was. He held on tightly to her, swallowing down the panic that had bubbled up inside of him.

Lime stepped out of her door, her hand coming up to where her mouth would be if her helmet weren’t in the way. She took a step back, head snapping to Brown as they cleared their throat.

“Emergency meeting. Everyone in the cafeteria.”

She shook her head, holding her hands up in front of her as if in defense. “Wait, you can’t be thinking that I did this! I would never hurt them, I wouldn’t hurt anyone!”

Brown turned, starting back down the hallway before she could finish her plea. “I said that we’re having a meeting. Now.”

They were all standing in front of the table, the space between them and Lime obvious. She kept looking back and forth from person to person, as if begging for someone to take her side. But the only person that everyone else was looking at was Brown. They were pacing in front of the table, looking at the floor as they walked. “Why? You seemed to be getting along so well with Purple, why them?”

She shook her head, her voice shaky when she spoke. “I didn’t! I swear, if I knew that something had happened, I would have reported it! It wasn’t me, you have to believe me!”

Brown shook their head, the anger in their voice obvious. “You were the only one near them. We were all in the cafeteria, it had to be you. There was no one else around. And the vent goes from their room to yours.”

She raised her hands, unlatching her helmet and throwing it to the ground. Hey eyes were wide and terrified, bright blue and tear filled. Long brown hair was pulled up into a bun, pieces falling down into her face. “Look! I’m not one of them! Look at me, Brown, look at me!”

Yellow hadn’t let go of his hand, and once Lime threw her helmet to the floor, her grip tightened. Black’s other hand reached out to his other side, grabbing hold of Red’s arm. He hadn’t said a word during the entire ordeal, and Black vaguely wondered if he had spoken to Purple in the time they were on the ship. He returned Black’s grip, holding him with shaky fingers as the watched the scene unfold before them.

Brown stalked close to Lime, their helmet inches from her face. “I don’t give a damn what you make yourself look like. You killed Purple, and we all know it.” There was nothing in their voice. They were holding themselves together, for what they could.

Orange chose that moment to speak up from her place behind green, not turning to see the chaos. “I’ve been here before. The impostors can change the way they look. They can hide what they really look like.” Green put his hand on her shoulder, but didn’t say anything.

Lime whipped around to her, tears streaming down her face freely. “Please! Don’t do this! I’m not an impostor, you have to believe me! I’ve been doing all of my tasks every day, you’ve seen me do them all!” She was near hysterical, her eyes darting to try to meet someone’s gaze through their helmets. It killed Black to see her looking as though she was in so much pain, but there was nothing he could do. Every sign was pointing to her being the killer, and she didn’t have an alibi that held up.

Blue was the one that spoke up then, his arms crossed over his chest in an almost bored way. “Anyone can fake their tasks if they have enough practice at it. This isn’t exactly rocket science. It’s over, Lime. Let’s just do this peacefully, alright?” He took a step towards her, his hand out like he was offering a scared animal a bite to eat.

She shook her head, holding her hands in front of her. “Blue, Red, you were both with me when I did asteroids! Tell them, we were all together!” Black felt Red’s arm clench under his grip, and he could have sworn Red was shaking under his suit. But maybe it was himself that he was feeling. Along with so many other negative emotions.

“Actually, I saw you try to do asteroids. It took you a long time, they give extensive training on that, no matter where you go to school at.” Red simply nodded at Blue’s words, still not speaking. Everyone was looking at Lime for an answer, to which there was none. She simply broke.

She dropped to her knees, a chorus of “no” and “please” exiting her mouth with each breath. Her sobs could be heard easily, and it wasn’t exactly an easy decision to come to. But they couldn’t live with knowing that there was a monster among them, not when they had already lost two of their crewmates.

One by one, they stepped forward, pressing the glowing button in the center of the table. Brown was the last to do so, pressing it harder than they needed to just to prove a point. They didn't say anything, just pointed to the air lock while staring at Lime.

She shook her head, not moving from her place on the floor. She didn’t want to die. None of them did. But that’s why they had to do this. So that there would be no more deaths on their journey. They still had ten months left.

Blue was the first to step forward, motioning with his hand. It made sense that him and Red would be the two to do it, they were the strongest men on the ship. Red reluctantly stepped toward Lime as well, although it was clear that eh didn’t want to. There was an opening in the side of the ship, against the back wall. It was five feet tall, and three feet long. In case of an emergency, one like what they were experiencing. It was the perfect size to fit a body.

The two men grabbed an arm, hoisting her up onto her feet and dragging her towards the airlock. She had given up trying to plead with them and had moved to screaming, incoherent begging for her life. But they weren’t moved by her tears, pushing her body into the airlock and Blue slamming the door behind her.

They could still hear her screams, hear her pounding on the door even with it shut. No one looked as Blue pressed the button, no one had the nerve to see the light click on and back off as the air lock released its contents into the vacuum of space. Everyone stood somberly for a few minutes, staring at the space where Lime just was.

They eventually separated, everyone going off in different directions. No one wanted to have to talk about what they’d seen.

By the time dinner rolled around, everyone had completed their tasks. It was quiet enough to hear a pen drop, and Black was feeling a little more than on edge. He’d charted the course for the day, done all of his wiring tasks, and been finished hours ago. He’d been laying on his bed, fingers fiddling with the hem of the blanket that he’d brought with him, when he heard a knock at his door.

He made an affirming noise, not bothering to put his helmet back on. They’d all been through too much that day to try to hide their faces anymore. And they’d seen two people already, it seemed weird to keep it from everyone now. Especially since they knew that the impostors could hide what they really looked like.

The door opened and Red stepped in, still fully suited up. He closed the door behind him, leaning his back against it. Neither of them said anything for a moment, Red not moving from his place. And then, a single sentence.

“You’re kind of nice to look at.”

Black completely blanked, then he laughed. It had been so long since he’d laughed, and it felt amazing. It completely blindsided him, he definitely was not expecting that kind if comment to leave Red’s mouth. He sat up, tucking one leg underneath him.

“Sorry, that just came out of nowhere.” He was still chuckling, and he heard Red let out his own laugh as well. He came over, sitting down on the bed beside Black. He reached up, like he was going to take his own helmet off, but decided against it. He looked towards Black, and he could feel the eyes on him. He felt like Red wasn't going to say anything, so he kept going. “Go ahead, you can take it off if you want.”

Red’s fingers twitched, as if he was debating with himself. Black heard him sigh, then he finally did reach up and unhook the straps holding the helmet to the suit. He took it off, blinking a few times to let his eyes adjust to the bright light. Red may have said that he was nice to look at, but Black immediately felt his stomach flip when he saw Red’s face.

Red hair pulled into a low knot, the strands falling nearly to his shoulders. His eyes were a deep brown, almost crimson around the edges. They locked eyes for a moment, and Black felt himself smile. If things were different, then he might allow himself to see Red as something more than his crewmate. But with the way things were, it was just too dangerous. One of them could die, and where would that leave the other?

It was easier to think about anything else though, when Red had his helmet on. When he couldn’t see the eyes that seemed to stare directly into his soul. Before he put a face to the voice under the mask.

“Happy now?” Red’s voice was no longer muffled, but it was still clear and deep like he remembered it being.

Black bumped his shoulder against Red’s, grinning like a kid. “Hey, you’re kind of nice to look at, too.”

Red laughed, letting his head fall back as he did so, and Black could have sworn that his eyeteeth were more pointed than they should have been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was really fun to write, and it ended up being longer than the previous three! Let me know how you guys liked it! Feedback honestly helps me, encourages me to keep on writing!


	5. Chapter 5 (Red)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for this chapter: Even though Red doesn't know exactly what's happening to him, I'm going to put a slight warning for anxiety/anxiety attack themes. It's not explicit, but it's there!

Red didn’t know what he had done in a previous life to deserve the karma he was receiving. Or maybe it was this life. He wasn’t quite sure. All he knew was that it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep his second mouth shut when he was around the first group of people he’d ever considered friends. Eating your friends wasn’t typically the best way to get them to stay around.

It had been three months since they had boarded the Skeld, which meant that it had been three months since he was able to have a proper meal. Granted, his species didn’t need to eat every week, or even every month, but that amount of time was definitely pushing his body’s limits. The three humans that had pronounced themselves his friends didn’t know the headache they were giving him, squeezing into the small communications room and forcing him to sit for hours on end. It would be fun, they said! With the smell of the blood coursing through their veins driving him up the wall with hunger, Red disagreed.

Yellow had found an old, unlabeled box in one of the back corners of storage, so of course she had to go through it. She’d squealed, pulling out a silver box and some wires. Red recognized it as a movie player that his teachers used for training videos. Red didn’t know what happened, but the next thing he knew, Yellow was yelling about a movie night, and he was being dragged into comms. Sitting on the dirty floor, Black on his left side, Orange on his right, and Yellow was hooking wires into one of the unused security monitors sitting in the floor. Not that he was complaining about their company, of course.

Ever since the night Lime was ejected and they had shown their faces to each other, it was as if a dam had burst. Black was almost always touching him in some way or another. Holding his arm, pressing their legs together during meals, even going as far as to lock their fingers together while they walked. It left Red’s head spinning each and every time. His teachers would be having a fit if they saw him in those moments.

His kind was taught that any sort of emotion was bad. Emotions clouded the head, they made people do irrational things and forget the mission at hand. It was always better to beat the need for emotions out of you when you were young, so it wouldn’t become a distraction later. Well, they were right about that part. Red couldn’t form a single thought when Black was nearby.

Even as they sat together, watching Yellow fight with the player, he couldn’t help but feel the warmth spread through his chest as Black leaned his smaller body into Red’s side. The soft glow of the screen in front of him lit up his features, even though Red had already memorized them long ago. Dark hair, which almost always fell into his face. Blue eyes (Red had discovered that the specific shade of blue was now his favorite color), and a nose covered in freckles. Black hated his freckles, he said that they made him look younger than he was. Red stopped him every time, saying they looked good on him. It always shut him up.

Yellow broke his train of thought by standing up, grin wide. The color on the screen was slightly off, the edges fuzzy from what Red could only assume was years of non use. She sat down on Orange’s other side, nearest the door. Orange raised her eyebrow at her friend when the sound began playing, the title of the movie displaying on the slightly shaky screen. “Really? Mulan?”

“Oh, hush. It was the only one in the box. And besides, it’s a classic!”

Orange rolled her eyes with a small smile, the one she reserved for the yellow clad crewmate. Black wrapped his hand around Red’s arm as the actual movie started, and Red could feel his stomach growl. Now was not the time for him to lose control, not that he thought that he would. He’d been good up until that point, considering how bad his partner had been. Red’s head tilted involuntarily as the main character, who he quickly identified as Mulan, broke out into song for no apparent reason. Red had never heard anyone sing before coming onto the ship. His kind never sung, there was no practical use for it, and it would have taken away time that they could have used for training. Humans sang a lot, he’d heard practically all of them humming to themselves at some point or another. He decided that he liked it.

Red came to realize a few things very quickly. First off, he liked Mulan’s character. A lot. She was awkward, didn’t do what she was told, and had trouble remembering the things that she was supposed to do. By the second song, Red was hooked. Mulan wasn’t who her higher ups wanted her to be, she wasn’t outwardly what she really was on the inside. She was her own person, and even though he didn’t understand the cultural references they made, he came to another conclusion. He understood the way that she felt.

Before Mulan could finish singing about her reflection, Orange nudged him with her elbow, getting his attention. She motioned to Yellow, who had fallen asleep beside her. Her mouth was open, her head back against the wall. Her hair had fallen out of the bow it was originally in, letting the light waves fall down her shoulders. The look in Orange’s eyes was different from the way she looked at Red or Black, and Red vaguely wondered if that’s how he looked at the black crewmate.

Black chose that moment to yawn, sliding down the wall until he could curl up on his side. So much for all of them watching the movie together. His head found a home on Red’s thigh, and damn it, why did Red’s face feel so warm? Orange made a noise that would have been noticeable, if not for the shit eating grin she wore.

“There’s nothing going on between you two, huh?” He didn’t need to look at her to know what she was thinking, turning his attention to the boy now in his lap. He was already asleep, his breathing evened out and his weight had settled firmly onto Red’s leg. He was relaxed, and Red let his hand settle onto Black’s head, his fingers threading through his hair. That was another thing that his people never did. Show physical affection.

“We’ve talked about this, Orange.” They had. She had brought up how touchy they were multiple times, and Red always gave her the same excuse. “We’re friends.”

She rolled her eyes, turning her attention back tot he movie. “Keep telling yourself that, buddy.”

The rest of the movie went well, Red felt more and more of himself in the character he was watching. The songs were good, she was doing well in her position despite not knowing what to do half the time. That was, until the moment she was found out as being female.

Red felt his heart stop, the blood draining from his face altogether. She was someone in their group that wasn’t supposed to be there, and everyone hated her. They hated Mulan, even though she hadn’t done anything wrong. That’s exactly what his friends would think if they found out about what he was. WHEN they found out what he was. 

It was terrifying, knowing that the relationships that he had made the last few months would be for nothing. They would realize that he was a monster, a killer, and they would leave him. If he was lucky, they would throw him out the air lock. He would go willingly, he knows that he deserves it. Maybe he would die of starvation before that had to happen, it was going to happen soon enough as it was. Maybe he could get away from the three of the and persuade Blue to kill him himself, it would be easy to-

He was stopped in his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder, Orange looking at him with genuine concern. He hadn’t realized that his breathing had gotten off beat, but it was suddenly hard to breathe in the small room. It felt as though someone had an iron grip on his lungs, which he didn’t truly need in the first place, and it was painful to take a breath in. Orange was still looking at him, and he realized she had asked him a question. The movie was still playing, Mulan alone in the snow with no one to help her.

She repeated her question for him, her hand still firmly on her shoulder. “Are you okay?” She was still looking at him, an emotion on her face that he didn’t recognize. Or maybe he was just incapable of in that moment, when the world felt like it was spinning, because everyone was going to find out, and oh God he was going to be ejected into space, and…

“Yeah, yeah, just into the movie. It’s good.” His voice came out garbled, and he didn’t realize that he was possible of sounding that way. His chest hurt when he tried to take a breath in. He hadn’t felt like that since he was a child, when he had been forced to kill one of his friends. He couldn’t breathe then, the weight of what he had done weighing on his chest like a heavy block, choking him. But he wasn’t a child anymore. He was an adult, and here he was, getting emotional over a movie designed for human children. It was pathetic.

Orange frowned, her hand slipping from his shoulder to his hand, holding the back of it loosely. Like she wanted to hold his hand, but didn’t want to overwhelm him. “You know,” she paused, as if she was picking her next words carefully. She used her other hand to tuck her hair behind her ear, although it fell back down easily. It wasn’t long enough to stay put without some assistance. “Even though she’s different, it all works out in the end.”

He snapped his gaze back to Black, who was just as peaceful as he was earlier. His hair was soft, and running his fingers through it grounded Red a bit. He was worked up over something stupid, and he knew it. But he couldn’t stop his fingers from shaking as they worked through the knots. His mind was racing, all of the possibilities of his friends despising him running through his head in a whirlwind that made it hard to watch the movie.

She eventually made her way through the rest of the movie, finding a way to rescue her friends in a grand gesture that saved all of China. Although Red doubted that he would be able to save an entire country, he might find a way to keep them alive from the other impostor. But even that would be pushing it.

“See? She saved all of them.” Orange’s voice had a softer tone to it than it normally did, and Red couldn’t help but look back at her. Why was she being so gentle with him, why would she not be weirded out by him showing that level of emotion? That wasn’t typical, even among humans. Red couldn’t seem to get his lips to form a sentence, and it didn’t seem like it was going to any time soon.

Once the movie ended it just turned the screen off, leaving them in the dark. The only light was coming in through the doorway, but tucked into the corner as they were, it still wasn’t very bright. He could see Orange with his enhanced vision, but with the way she was looking at him, he would have thought that she could see him clearly as well. She opened her mouth and closed it again, then opened it a second time.

“If Mulan hadn’t been an impostor, she couldn’t have saved her friends.” For the second time that night, Red felt his heart stop. Why would she say that? What did she know? “They were afraid of what they didn’t know. They never gave her a chance to prove herself, you know?” Her hand gripped his tighter, he hadn’t even realized that she was still holding it.

His voice came back to him, his hand stilling in Black’s hair. “What are you saying.”

She sighed, dropping her gaze to her lap. Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper when she spoke. “I’ve known for a while, Red. But I know you’re not bad. You’ve kept us safe, haven’t you?”

He could only nod, thoughts flashing back to the moments that Blue would circle them, watching for an opportunity to strike. Waiting for one of them to step off by themselves, to be vulnerable. And Red had never let it happen. He’d always stepped closer to whichever friend Blue was targeting, making it impossible for him to get a kill in. He’d saved the three of them multiple times, and they’d never known it. But apparently, someone had.

“I knew it. There are two of you, aren’t there?” His silence was enough of an answer for her. “This is so fucked up. I’ve never gotten an opportunity to talk to an impostor before. I always just voted them out… Could things have been different with them?”

Red shook his head, not sure why Orange knowing what he was an alien was oddly… Comforting? “I doubt it. I’m kind of.. Different from the rest of them. We’re not exactly an understanding species. I just don’t really enjoy doing what I’m supposed to do.”

“Supposed to do? Why are you guys here?” She didn’t sound angry, she sounded curious. She’d obviously thought about this for some time, which made him wonder how long his guard had been down for. He hadn’t kept up with what was happening around him, hadn’t been paying attention to just how weak he had gotten.

“We’re starving. Our people are dying, Orange. We have to do something to get supplies.” His hand resumed the motion of playing with Black’s hair, feeling weirdly good about being able to talk openly with someone about the things he’d held in for so long. “We’ve tried to reach out to Earth, but they refuse to help us.”

Orange raised her eyebrows almost comically, somehow shocked by the revelation. Everyone already knew that earth was crooked, why would it be surprising that they refused help? “Refused? I never heard anything about that! No one knows that you’ve tried to help, we have to let people know!”

Red started to reply that it was pointless, that Earth would never help them, when someone stepped into the room, shadowed in the doorway. It was White, and by the look on his face, he wasn’t there to join their movie night.

“Body was found in Navigation. I think I know who it was.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got the plot mapped out for the rest of the story, as of right now it will be 10 chapters, including an epilogue! Hope you guys are enjoying the story so far, I'm having a lot of fun writing it! Any comments are greatly appreciated, I really like hearing your thoughts and opinions on what's going on!


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